A bookkeeper and 37-year-old mother in California
dreams of becoming a volcanologist, while a 48-year-
old District of Columbia attorney wants a new career
in real estate development. In Tennessee, a former
Army enlistee and 26-year-old father of five sees
financial planning in his future. All three are in
graduate school.
Today's grad student typically starts an advanced-
degree program long after the traditional
undergraduate-to-graduate student has finished.
Nearly half of all grad students enroll between ages
24 and 35, according to the Council of Graduate
Schools; one-quarter start at age 36 or older. Most
have real-world work experience. About a third are
raising children. This is the new face of graduate
school. But it is more than just a demographic shift.
As U.S. News & World Report details in its rankings of
more than 1,500 programs, schools are learning to
embrace new needs with specialties such as
occupational therapy, environmental policy and public
affairs.
Law schools, too, are finding the need to keep up with
the latest trends, adding business classes to their
traditional offerings of contracts and torts. And more
universities are offering child care help, two-year
programs and a host of other services to assist older
learners.
But here's the rub: Many grad schools and their faculty
are still adapting to this change in the student
population. "Universities have failed to look at the
demographics of their graduate students," said Carol
Ann Baily, director of Off-Campus Student Services at
Middle Tennessee State University in
Murfreesboro. "That's because they would have to do
something about it."
